Would you trust this man with your club?
While balancing the books may win Arsenal plaudits in the business world, supporters fail to see the honourable value of trading within one’s own means, and are becoming increasingly impatient with the lack of investment in the playing staff. Arsenal currently have three holes shaped like Mathieu Flamini, Alexander Hleb and Gilberto Silva and no one willing to splash out and fill them.
Unless, that is, Alisher Usmanov, with a twenty four per cent stake in the club, launches a formal takeover, as he is entitled to do, starting today. His advances have so far been greeted with boardroom skepticism - unsurprising, being that the Arsenal board appears to be made up of very grand old English ladies and gentlemen (plus American Stan Kroenke) with little apparent appetite for relinquishing power to anyone so vulgar as an Uzbek oligarch.
Although there is no official word from Usmanov, it is surely only a matter of time before he attempts to gain the fifty one per cent shareholding required to become king of the castle. Arsenal’s directors have agreed amongst themselves that shares must initially be offered to existing board members, in the hope that Usmanov will be unable to gather sufficient equity. Battle lines have been drawn.
As the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City and Aston Villa attempt to recreate Chelsea’s financial “route one” to success, how long can Arsenal continue to turn their back on potential new - and gigantic - sources of income? Arsene Wenger has established himself as a shrewd player in the transfer market, and his ability to develop talent is second to none. But so what? With the Premier League no longer dominated by a big four, but a big two, anyone hoping to crash that party is going to need funds on United and Chelsea’s scale.
So should Arsenal be scrambling to find Mr Usmanov a pen to write his cheques with, or are they right to preserve their Old Etonian way of doing things? Let us know with a comment.
9 responses so far
1 mjc // Aug 29, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Here come Schillings….!
2 geoffreid // Aug 29, 2008 at 2:31 pm
I and many others have been saying bring the ruskie and dein in–or we will never be competing with the blues and united - we are already falling behind to a point where it will be impossible.These teams win each year and still buy better players arsenal do the opposite and loose theirs.
3 Judipus // Aug 29, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Congratulations on a great pr piece for fat and orange.
Anybody who loves the club should not want someone of such a dubious character as Usmanov.
For one he has admitted to being a Manure Fan and he’s business dealings are allegedly a little on the dodgy side.Is this the type of person you want to run our club??
At least the board we have now have nothing but the long term interest of the club at heart.The first thing Usmanov done when he bought shares was to try and get the board to give dividends on the shares,something which the board has never done instead reinvesting it in the club.Aagain I ask is this person really interested in the club or see’s it as just another investment.Anyway we all know that it’s the boss who decides who we buy and even if he had Abramovich’s billions to spend he wouldn’t it’s not he’s style.
4 East // Aug 29, 2008 at 3:23 pm
geoffreid - go and support Chelski.
I’m with Judipus.
5 sd // Aug 29, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Calm down ,dubious refs are more our concern.Went close last season,closer this,trust the Wenger.(One more goal and Nasri will have matched Hleb’s complete tally for last season).
6 om // Aug 29, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Part of the problem, me thinks, is that people do not understand that the likes of Usamov do not make an “investment in” the club. they buy shares. the money goes from Usamov to another owner’s bank. Not to Arsenal FC. Look at what happened at UTD. Glazer isn’t “investing” money. he has the club continue borrowing more and more. he had the club borrow money to help him afford the purchase of the club.
Abromovich is not an investor. He just loves football. Usamov is an investor. He would buy Arsenal, add much more debt and then try to sell if/when he can make a reasonable profit. 5 yrs after he left, we would be Leeds.
7 Ali // Aug 29, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Let this fat fuckin cu.nt get to fuck!
Arsene is a genius in the transfer market, and does not need tens of millions to compete with Chelski and Man USA.
I’m convinced there are signings coming in before the window shuts, and we will be in the mix come of the end of the season with those two.
Even without Wenger (thinking long term), the board constantly say Arsene has money to spend, and the quotes yesterday from them make it seem that we have just as much as Man Utd and that amount will only increase, but Arsene won’t spend it.
8 leonB // Sep 1, 2008 at 11:11 am
Oh dear the mind and financial games have got to geoffreid already. Unable to resist the charms of bright lights and big names he’s ready to sell his soul and club to the devil…
Right now there’s something very English about being an Arsenal supporter, regardless of who manages or plays for them. The ways and principals the ‘old’ board are preserving matter much more than flashy names, we are the only big four club to live within our means, the majority of our players could earn more elsewhere but like true fans believe in Arsen and the principled way the club is run (even Addy b).
Imagine If players came to your club because they wanted to not because of the money, imagine if tickets didn’t have to be increased to cover wages, imagine if the fate of your whole club didn’t rest of the whim of just one man or even worse faceless ‘investors’
One day we will get overtaken because of the stand the club has taken and it will be a sad day for ALL football but that won’t be this season and probably not next season either.
I like my team to win and be successful but for me its also about being proud of them and feeling that I have a stake in their success and a shared ideal, which I do now.
If I just want silverware, bragging rights on Monday morning and low quality football from a bunch of mercenaries, then like geoffreid I’ll sell out in dash for the cash.
The supposed faithful are strangely beginning to grumble and its not as though we’re being thrashed each season in the league. I for one still believe, Arsen knows….
9 emmersboy // Sep 1, 2008 at 1:24 pm
I for one agree with geoffried. The squad is far to small because of a lack of investment and we flatter ourselves by talking about the big four, there’s no “big four” just the big two nad we are falling farther behind every season.